No ordinary love
by The Midnight Fox
Summary: A year has passed since Kagome died at Nrakus hands. A strange girl comes through the well bearing the final shard of the shiko jewel, how will Inuyasha deal with this strange turns of events?
1. To find you

No Ordinary Love:  
An Inu-yasha Fanfic  
  
"There's nothing like you and I baby"-Sade  
  
Chapter 1  
  
To Find You  
  
The girl ran through the damp alleyway at a speed that should have betrayed her condition. She slipped in the puddles left from an earlier rainfall and skidded painfully across the asphalt, skinning one foot badly. Without seeming to notice, she got back up and continued moving. Her clothes were dirty and bloodstained and her shoes had long ago been discarded. In one hand she clutched a small sliver of crystal as if her life depended on it. She didn't know why she did this but she seemed unable to relinquish it. She had found it earlier while out with her friends. They had been exploring an abandoned shrine in the woods when she caught sight of it glimmering weakly in the dirt. As a child she had collected whatever crystals or minerals she could find, this seemed no different. Clenching a fist around it she ran harder and didn't dare look behind her. If she felt the sting of deep claw marks along her back she gave no notice. Nor did she flinch when her bare foot came down hard on a piece of broken glass. She wrenched the glass out quickly and threw it away before continuing her run in a zigzag fashion to throw off her pursuer. Behind her the demon was bellowing loudly and dragging it's lumbering body after her at a dangerous speed. To her eyes it had resembled something close to a huge grotesque tree, and even that didn't quite describe it. The girl didn't know why it was after her but she was quite sure it would kill her if she let it get close enough.  
A half an hour earlier the monster had attacked her dorm room, broken in the window and possibly killed one of her roommates. It had come barreling through the window growling and trying to speak. Most of it was indecipherable except for one word; "Shikon". After that it had reached for her and she had run away. She had run down the stairs and out the door in an attempt to lead it away. It must have realized to an extent what she was doing; it was waiting for her when she came out. That was when it had struck her from behind. Razor sharp claws had bitten into her skin ripped along her back. She had fallen hard into the dirt and couldn't believe the pain the racked her body. She felt it standing over her and knew that she didn't have time before it killed her. Her hands had fumbled madly over the ground in front of her, trying to find anything with which to defend herself. Her fingers finally closed over something thick. She didn't stop to see what it was but turned around swinging it. There was a loud clanging sound, a pained roar and then she opened her eyes. In her hands was an old metal rake, probably left behind by a member of the gardening crew. There had been black blood glistening on the blades of the rake and the monster was holding its head and screaming. Without a second thought she threw it to the ground and ran off.  
Even now she could feel the blood dripping down her spine and the back of her legs.  
She knew she was losing ground quickly; as well as a great deal of blood. Whether it was from the loss of blood or pure exhaustion she knew she wouldn't be able to run much longer. The alley had disappeared somewhere behind her and now she found herself facing a large set of stairs. Ignoring the intense pain shooting through her bloodied feet she raced up the stairs two at a time. Once she finished that painful climb her heart sank. There was nothing more there than a large old tree and what appeared to be a well house. The area looked as though it might have once been a shrine but the house was in ruins. Possibly from a fire, or maybe it had even been demolished. Whatever had happened here, it had apparently been abandoned some time ago. The well house also looked in danger of collapsing at any moment. The wood on the outside was rotted and looked infested with termites. Still, her options were limited and maybe she could find a place to lie low in there until the monster left. She hobbled painfully to the door and rushed inside, trying to close it quietly behind her. No such luck, the door creaked complainingly behind her the whole way. The inside of the well house was very sparse, virtually empty save for the rotten well at the bottom of the steps and a few abandoned boxes. The floor she was standing on was littered with the skeletons of insects and she was almost sure she could make out the remains of a cat somewhere in the back. She shivered as she stood there staring around. What she had chosen as a place or refuge was turning out to be just as bad as what she was facing outside. When she heard a monstrous yell not so far away she rethought that idea and realized maybe she could deal with the filth in here. She whipped her head around in fear as she realized she didn't have time to stare at the surroundings. Not thinking about what she was doing, the girl ran frantically down the steps looking for anywhere she could hide. She had just reached the edge of the well when the door above gave a horrible splintering sound and suddenly blew apart. It happened with such force that the explosion pushed her to back against the well. As she hit the edge she lost her footing and felt her body tipping backwards. She felt herself falling over into the well as the thing above her screamed first in triumph and then in anger. For the briefest of moments she saw a monstrous clawed arm swinging above and then it seemed to fade. As she fell back into the darkness the roar also seemed to grow fainter then vanish all together. Then she had the sensation of floating briefly before her body fell heavily onto the well floor. She hit so hard that the air rushed from her lungs and she lay gasping for breath.  
The girl looked above her, expecting to see two terrible red eyes looking back at her. Instead she saw night sky and stars blinking at her in between clouds. She blinked in confusion for a moment and wondered if maybe blood loss was making her see things. She sat up slowly and torturously, gritting her teeth the whole way. There was no sound of demon cries from above, only the night sounds of cicadas and crickets.  
Feeling utterly confused the girl pushed herself onto her bloody feet and made for the nearby vines, she gave them a firm tug to see if they were strong enough to support her weight then made an excruciating upward climb. This was not so unlike climbing out of the underground caves near her home. As a child she had done this many times, though not with injured feet she had to remind herself. She made it to the top and pulled herself up with what little strength remained in her. As she tried to pull herself bodily out of the well her arms gave out and she tumbled ungracefully over the side onto the grass. Her vision was growing blurry now and the sounds of crickets felt louder in her ears than it should. In truth the night sounds seemed deafening to her. She decided she needed to try to find help and once again rose onto shaky, weak legs. She had not moved more than a few steps before she saw a human-like figure before her. She could not make out any features other than long hair and a robe. The pounding in her head was growing worse as she tried to make out who was standing there. She decided to move closer for a better look and took two more shaky steps before her vision blurred. She felt herself tumbling into darkness, leaving her with only a vague image of golden eyes and white hair.  
  
Inuyasha did not know what he expected to find, going to that dried well night after night. Maybe some part of him expected Kagome to magically appear out of it and smile at him with her unwavering faith. Ready as always to go on another adventure, expecting him to protect her no matter what. He knew she would never appear in his world again, or even in her own. Inuyasha knew full well that Kagome was dead and nothing in either world would bring her back. Time had not healed the wound of her loss or his longing to be with her. With something close to a bitter laugh he realized that even Kikyos death was not as bad as Kagomes. Being near the well was like being near her again and, though it hurt, he took some comfort in that.  
Imagine his surprise when he reached the well and his senses were assailed by the smell of fresh blood. He had frozen before approaching because he could not understand the reason for it. Imagine his further shock when a copper colored arm reached over the side of the well, and fir one fleeting moment he thought he just might see her. A second later that idea was blown away when a red haired girl came tumbling out of it instead. She was filthy and covered in blood but was still trying desperately to move around. He watched her in a state of shock as she seemed to rise painfully to her feet and move towards him. Even covered in blood and grime she was like nothing he had ever seen. Her long red hair was curly and seemed to fall almost to her waist. Her skin was not Kagomes shade of olive but she was evenly tanned none the less and patches of it shone beneath the mud and grime. The girl's eyes were a bright aqua blue and fixed on him. "Who..." He started to speak when he realized she didn't seem to be looking at him. She squinted at him as she took a few steps but didn't seem to truly see him. Her clothes were different from anything he ever saw Kagome wear too. The lower portions fit to her legs but were very short. What he remembered Kagome referring to as "Shorts." She wore a top with no sleeves that he vaguely remembered Kagome referring to as a "Tank top". The girl took a few more steps toward him before immediately collapsing at his feet. The whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion for him. The two shaky steps she took in his direction, then the light leaving her eyes, her knees buckling, the fall. She hit the ground with a heavy thud, her hair laying itself gently over his feet. Something fell from her hand with an almost inaudible tinkling sound and glittered up at him. He looked down at it with a mix of horror and surprise; it was the final shard of the Shikon jewel. The Jewel shard he had searched for since kagome died, the shard demons still hunted for now. How had this strange girl come to have it? She rustled slightly on the ground and the hair over his foot moved. He had a few moments to marvel at how soft it felt even when tangled and matted. Inuyasha looked down at her for a moment before kneeling to take a closer look. There were jagged deep wounds running the length of her back that were bleeding badly, not to mention what looked like a gapping hole in one foot. The other foot was scratched up and bleeding badly as well, as if she had somehow taken the hide of it. He turned her over to look at her face once again and wondered who she was and where she came from. He then had a flashback to when Kagome died and swallowed hard against that pain. Brown eyes staring apologetically into his, that olive colored hand that had tightly gripped the front of his obi going slack. He shook his head to clear that wretched memory, this girl was not Kagome. She wasn't Kagome but she did have a shard of the jewel and that was reason enough to be curious. With a great amount of gentleness, he lifted the girl into his arms and decided he would try to save her; if for no other reason than to find out her association with the shard. She seemed to whimper slightly in pain before going still once more and he felt a sense of resolve rising in him. It also felt as if he was being given a third and final chance to save someone's life, it was like Kagome was being returned to him. He had already failed to save two women's lives; he was not going to do it again. Moving swiftly through the forest Inuyasha took her to the one person who might be able to save her; Kaede. 


	2. To save you

All original characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi  
  
Song lyrics by Sade Kayla is my character  
  
"When you came my way  
  
You brightened every day  
  
With your sweet smile"-Sade  
Chapter 2  
  
To Save You  
  
The girl felt herself moving in and out consciousness and the flow of time lost all meaning to her. There could have been minutes passing between when she woke up or hours. Each time she seemed to see of feel something different. The first time she came around she felt herself being held tightly against someone's chest, as if she were being carried. She snuggled into the warmness of it, wanting so badly to feel safe again. With her face pressed against something very soft she fell again into oblivion. The next time she came around she still felt warm but terribly weak. Her back and feet ached as though a thousand needles were being pushed into them. She curled her fingers against what was beneath her. It felt rough yet soft at the same time, like fur or animal hide. She tried to open her eyes but found them to be heavy and unyielding. The lids were like stone, as she forced them apart. When she did this they burned so badly she was forced to close them once again. She had just started to doze off again as the sound of far away voices reached her ears.  
"She's badly injured Inuyasha, I don't know that I can save her." She realized they must mean her but could not focus much on the meaning of the words before she was fading away again. What she saw next seemed to be a scene right out of a nightmare, she wondered later if it was one. She awoke to see the monster from earlier leaning over her in the weak glow of the firelight. It reached a clawed hand out toward her face and she screamed as loud as her weakened body would allow. With a strength born of those in danger she scurried back away from it. She was no longer yelling words in Japanese but had reverted back to English. Out of nowhere, arms seemed to wrap around her and she struggled against an invisible assailant. This went on until she heard a comforting voice in her ear.  
"Hush girl, there's nothing there." The voice was obviously a male one though he sounded no older than her. She ceased struggling out of exhaustion and allowed the invisible man to hold her. For the first time since the demons attack she allowed herself to feel the full reality of what had happened. She began to sob, she cried out everything that she had felt and was still feeling as the invisible arms rocked her back and forth. The softness from earlier was once again at her cheek as she clung to air. She could feel someone there, hear them, but to her eyes there was nothing. She glanced up after a while and the demon from earlier still seemed to be standing where it was before but had not moved. Closing her eyes against that terrifying image she drifted off to sleep. After that she remembered very little but did have the sensation of being very sick. She would have moments where she would feel as though her body was on fire and other times she would feel as though she were incased in ice. When she opened her eyes everything around her looked like it was covered in glowing gauze, like spider web that was on fire. Sometimes her wounds would hurt so badly she would cry out and that invisible male figure would be there again. Sometimes she saw him as a shadow looming over her, other times he was nothing more than an outline. On particularly bad moments he cradled her in his arms as if she were a baby. She clung to that warmth like a blanket, feeling as if it were the only safe place for her to be. There also felt like there was another person, a woman who kept cold water on her forehead and back. Someone who rubbed a burning ointment into her feet and bandaged them. In one lucid moment she thought she caught sight of the man who was always nearby. He had long black hair and eyes of a deep violet. He sat in the corner of the small hut and watched her with a sad expression. When he saw that she was looking at him he made his way to her side and spoke to her. In a voice that seemed to come from the end of a tunnel he asked her name. Even as he did this he was fading again and she tried to hold onto the image of his face for as long as she could. She answered him before sliding into the familiar darkness once again.  
"Kayla"  
  
Kayla woke up and was surprised to find that her eyes no longer felt heavy and weighed down. Her eyes focused first on the ceiling of the hut that she hadn't gotten a good look at until now. She turned her head to the side and saw the remains of a fire nearby and another roll of sleeping furs. In confusion she continued to glance left and right, not certain as to what she was seeing. She heard a noise somewhere behind her head and tried to turn over to see where it was. The pain that shot through her back was so intense that she let out a sharp gasp and lay still.  
"Best not to move, those wounds haven't healed yet." The voice was that of an older female woman. Kayla turned her head to the left as the hem of a shrine outfit came into her line of vision. The woman crouched down beside her and Kayla found herself face to face with a very old woman.  
"You're lucky to be alive girl," The woman told her with a serious look as she laid a withered hand on the girl's forehead.  
'That fever seems to have broken finally, how do you feel?" Kaylas voice felt tight with misuse but she managed to push words between her lips.  
'Weak," The old woman nodded at her as she reached for a small bowl at her side.  
"Well, that's to be expected," She lifted the girls head up and pushed the brim of the bowl to her lips.  
"Drink this; it should ease the pain though I dare say it will knock you out again." The taste of herbs and something much like cinnamon hit her tongue and slid down her throat. It was odd tasting but she welcomed the wetness in her otherwise dry mouth. When she had swallowed all of it the old woman lowered her head back to the firs and arranged her comfortably. When this was done she sat back in a manner that indicated she had questions.  
"Where are you from?" She asked pointedly, staring into Kaylas eyes. Kayla blinked back at her for a moment as if the question confused her. She wasn't sure whether or not she should answer but decided in the end that her choices were limited.  
"Australia." Now it was the old woman's turn to look confused.  
"Is that the name of your village?" Kayla shook her head as she felt the drowsiness of the drink filling her senses.  
"No, it's my country." The old woman didn't venture any more questions so Kayla decided to ask a few of her own.  
"Who are you and where am I?" The old woman seemed taken by surprise for a moment before shaking herself out of it, after a moment she answered.  
"My name is Kaede and this is the sengoku Jidai. Kayla just barely caught onto what was said before the medicine kicked in fully and she slept. 


End file.
